Choose Your Greeter From The Sl New Account Start Page

CHOOSE YOUR GREETER FROM THE SL NEW ACCOUNT START PAGE

Sounds Like a good idea, doesn't it?

It is an idea that was in full effect in 2005. Robin Linden ran the greeter program then. When creating a new account you had a choice of greeters to sign on with. Greeters listed their SL specialities (mine was shopping). Once you rezzed in world the greeter you chose would contact you, teleport you to where they were (this was before infohubs blighted the mainland) and you would have an instant comrade, teacher and tour guide.

But Linden Lab fired all of the greeters. Not clear why. Scalability may have been the issue back then. But I do not understand why. But i think it is worth re-visiting.

I understand the Community Partner program is suppose to take the place of this - folks will be able to just choose a noob-friendly community to rez in - but that could still be a ghost town.

Could the classic greeter program be brought back and allow folks to choose a greeter from the main page?

heh yea. sure. every merchant in sl will become a greeter teleporting the new residents directly to their stores. Just like I hear happens with another program.

But the spirit of the suggestion is quite noble and good.

I hope the new viewer alleviates some of the issues and that somehow we can get back on track to a place of entertainment and education or perhaps entertaining education.

GRanted, that is exactly what we did. We teleported them to where we were - which was our land. But it worked and the volunteers got a little perk. We could not make them members of our groups while greeting - but the noob more than likely became a customer later on.

But teleporting them to the land of the greeter is not necessary. There is enough 'neutral Ground' in SL for the greeter to meet their new noob at.

It ~is~ a good idea, and practically necessary... No automated, or whatever machination, tutorial will ever retain a new resident in SL. (T_T)

Sadly... LL has this habit of Yo-Yo-ing the Mentors group saying "Greeter applications are open" then waning... Then pulling a survey that cuts the group... Then announcing a Greeter role again... Then waning... Major Ugh-fest. (>_<

Right now, it looks like Community Gateways are somewhat working. The Oxbridge walkthrough tutorial and helpers are doing really well. Some of the other CGs leave MUCH to beg for. I've toured them all. None are doing as well as Caledon. I'm hoping the most abandoned ones were due to time zones. (>_<

Inworld help groups are only as good as the landmarks that get the newbies to them. Since they don't get new-rez priority off of Help Island, people can only find them by word of mouth. Gladly, word gets out fast. There always seems to be someone who knows and appreciates NCI in the welcome areas. (^_^)

Should greeters be brought back? YES!!! For the love of all that is kawaii and desu~ YES!!! XD

Will they be? Really... If anything... It'll be some sub-contractor, on payroll, who would probably be no better than the OI-HUD the lab just got rid of. (T_T)

They even made us a 'Greeter HUD' that had our noobs in queue so we could keep track of them. I do not recall any real abuses or scandals from this program. I believe the Lindens saw it as labor intensive for them. But the end results were new resident retention and more income for the lab. So I think it was justified.

The mentor program was/is a real mess. Including such things as:

* the survey (and Lindens gloating about how many mentors they weeded out)

* closing applications (both new and for the people kicked out)

* coming up with a greeter role even the Lindens could not define and alienating the other mentors

* getting bored with the greeter role

* most of the Lindens involved with the mentor programme either leaving or being reassigned

Basically, LL did a really good job. When people start to mentor they are enthused about doing so and are mentoring every chance they get. Then the reality of how they are treated settles in and that initial enthusiasm wanes.

Part of the problem is the lab wants free labour, not contractors like they do with the moles. Which limits how much they can give us direct instructions, both legally and practically. I used to see requests for mentors at such-and-such a location constantly, now it happens very infrequently. Most of the mentors either got fed up or they did what I did: started volunteering as mentors at a community gateway.

I Think the ignoring of the Mentors is phase two in the plan to weed out the herd.
Maybe some memo entitled 'how to destroy a volunteer program in ten easy steps' will surface from the Lab.

______________________

But the Lab should really look back at what they did right, re-work it a little bit to make it scalable and then get it up and running once again. A Greeter program would be a great companion program to the Community Partner Initiative.

I think there will be some re-direction straight to a community gateway and no rezzing at all on the help Islands once the CG program goes mainstream.

But once a noob chose a gateway - they should also choose a greeter from that gateway to be their starter buddy. Rezzing in an empty gateway and just clicking notecards is not going to help with new resident retention.

It all comes down to this:

The right way to make a lot of money with software: Write a software program, put it onto a CD or DVD that costs pennies, and sell thousands of the CD or DVD for $100 each.

The wrong way to try to make a lot of money with software: Write a software program, give away the basic version, hoping to make money on the advanced version and related services, and discover that it costs you $100 worth of customer support for each user before they understand it well enough to give you a dime.

Volunteers can't be counted on because the demand is too great. Small museums can get away with volunteer docents, and they have advantages that LL doesn't (face-to-face contact, perqs like dinners for the volunteers, etc.). Large museums can't - the need is too great, or the risk of theft or other malicious acts too high. Eventually they turn to alternatives, like paid docents or pre-recorded audio tours.

For LL, volunteers would have worked in the early days, but now the demand is too great, the job is much harder than it looks and the good ones get burned out or discover they're spending 20hrs/week just teaching newbies. The best ones eventually figure out that they're doing unpaid customer support and training, which is unfair, and that they'd be better off finding a similar paying job.

The answer is what the usability community has been saying for years, spend real dollars on usability experts. (Yes, I'm somewhat biased, but I'm not actually making money off of usability these days, and never qualified as one of the high-priced usability experts.)

Some thought would need to be given to the fact that greeters/mentors are volunteers though, and probably with different schedules that the person that needs help. What should happen when new ppl rez in-world and their greeter is not available to help them right then (whether in-world or not)?

Good points Kidd.
I do think that a greeter queue program could be rolled into the Community Gateway program. Each community that signs onto this are getting some kickbacks in free land from LL anyway - just give their certified greeters a 512 on some of the free land to compensate them.

The greeter could have an assigned back up person. And if both are not available then the Noob would go into queue for the greeter on hand at that time who can at least answer their most burning questions until their greeter is online.

It sometimes worked like that with the original program. I would get a guy who wanted to get greeted by a scripter - but he would settle for me until someone that fit his requirements was available.

The Community Gateway works real well for Virtual Ability. We were supposed to get 'only' disabled new residents but we ended up basically getting whoever chose us, and that's fine. We have a big greeter/mentor staff and a way to contact whatever greeter is online, by a HUD they wear (SAM bell) (Second Ability Mentor) If someone arrives and finds no one there, they can 'ring' the SAM bell and any and all greeters online/available are notified someone needs help at the gateway. It's worked, so far.

I personally have seen some very RUDE "mentors" I htink for some, not all... It is a power play for them..... I never had a helper mentor or anything on SL aside from goodhearted people just like me who helped me.......No official group or place.... Just nice people.

That sounds great. Is the greeter portion of your Community Gateway an required element by Linden Lab to run a Gateway - or is it something you all developed to make your gateway run smoother?

Since LL did not advertise this service as a asset to the CG program, I am assuming you added it on your own.

Some people see their Linden affiliations like pogo gaming badges; collect as many as you can for the win.

We developed it. We had to, so our mentors wouldn't have to hang around the gateway 'just in case' all the time. Because most (not all) of our new residents are disabled in some way, they may need some extra type of advice on different things that can help make their SL easier; software, often available on their own PC that they aren't aware of. We even have classes about profiles, how to complete them, how to be safe, well as safe as you can be in SL, as far as rl info goes.

There is such a thing as 'devotees'. They are attracted to, sexually, and feed off of (emotionally feed off of) disabled females, usually amputees, or women in wheelchairs in rl. We have classes on how to recognize and avoid them. Most disabled females are aware of them, having the phenomenon in rl, so it's nothing new, but when you are disabled and lonely, and someone starts chatting you up, well you know, for some it's that desperately needed socialization and it's harder to recognize and walk away from. So we have classes in that too.

That's more info than you asked for, sorry. I got into that explanation there because it's really important for a disabled person (depending on the disability of course) to have a mentor who gets it in specialized areas like this.

That is where I volunteer too.

A lot of times when the hud rings though it is someone seeing what the button does or they have wandered off. At the same time, the people that need help the most are unable to find the bell. Ironically, usage of the bell seems (at least to me) to be in inverse to the level of need of the person ringing it. A handy tool, but when I want to mentor I just go to VAI and hang out.

The jumps in people using the VAI gateway comes from SL listing gateways on the signup screen, but rotating them. When we are at/near the top, we get a lot of signups from ppl who just want in to SL and could care less. When we rotate towards the bottom we get more disabled people, as they are actively seeking us out.

Interestingly, we also seem to get more educators than most other entry points I have seen.

That is why making this service available clearly on the SL sign up page would be more productive.

Our pictures and our greeter profiles were loaded up on the start page for new residents and they could just click the picture to choose their greeter.
I Think this is sloppy on SL's part. They should really match people with their needs. And not take advantage of the communities that registered for the Gateway. Linden Lab is breaking the deal they made with you by forcing you to service anyone and not the population you agreed to be involved with.

When a person wants to enter SL through a gateway, they just be prompted to fill out a profile and then see only the gateways that most closely meet their needs.

SL did add a Virtual Ability sign at the Help Island rezzing point, during the most recent HI update for the benefit of people with disabilities who may not have seen Virtual Ability as an option during signup.

I don't recall if they had a greeter program when I first joined back in July 2006. I think if I had someone that showed me around more back then, I might have stuck around. As it was, I only stayed for maybe a week before leaving. I returned in July 2009, and have enjoyed every moment, even though I didn't have a greeter this time either.

Hey Carl! How is the sabbatical?

The signage is always good. But a ghost town with a sign is not exactly a ticker tape parade.

Carl were you in the SL Greeter program back in 2006? I believe you had some involvement.

I'm not on a sabbatical. I am no longer affiliated with NCI in any capacity.



It is better than nothing. Before they put that out, anyone with a disability needing special help, who did not pick "go to community gateway" in signup, never new that Virtual Ability's services we available.



No. I've never been a SL Mentor or Greeter.

i think this is a really good idea lias and i give you props for bringing it up. maybe something like the hud you guys have mentioned could be distributed to groups who might want to do something like this...if LL isnt going to.